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Battles - The First Battle of the Marne, 1914

The First Battle of the Marne was conducted
between 6-12 September 1914, with the outcome bringing to an end the war of
movement that had dominated the First World War since the beginning of
August. Instead, with the German advance brought to a halt, stalemate
and trench warfare ensued.

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Having invaded Belgium and north-eastern
France, the German army had reached within 30 miles of Paris. Their
progress had been rapid, having successfully beaten back Belgian, French and
British forces in advancing deep into north-eastern France. Their
advance was in pursuance of the aims of the
Schlieffen Plan, whose primary
focus was the swift defeat of France in the west before turning attention
the Russian forces in the east.

As the German armies neared Paris, the French
capital prepared itself for a siege. The defending French forces
(Fifth and Sixth Armies) - and the British - were at the point of
exhaustion, having retreated continuously for 10-12 days under repeated
German attack until, directed by
Joseph Joffre, the French
Commander-in-Chief, they reached the south of the River Marne.

With victory seemingly near,
Alexander von
Kluck's German First Army was instructed to encircle Paris from the east.
The French government, similarly expecting the fall of the capital, left
Paris for Bordeaux.

Joseph Joffre, imperturbable in the face of
crisis, resolved on 4 September to launch a counter-offensive strike, under
the recommendation of the military governor of Paris,
Gallieni, and aided by
the British under
Sir John French (the latter only after prompting by the
British war minister,
Lord Kitchener).

Joffre
authorised
General Maunoury's Sixth Army - comprising 150,000 men - to
attack the right flank of the German First Army in an action beginning on
the morning of 6 September. In turning to meet the French attack a 30
mile wide gap appeared in the German lines between the First and Second
Army, the latter commanded by the cautious General
Karl von Bulow.

The Allies were prompt in exploiting the break
in the German lines, despatching troops from the British Expeditionary Force
(BEF) to join the French Fifth Army in pouring through the gap between the
two German armies, the right wing of Fifth Army simultaneously attacking the
German Second Army.

Nevertheless, the German forces were close to
achieving a breakthrough against Maunoury's beleaguered forces between 6-8
September, and were only saved on 7 September by the aid of 6,000 French
reserve infantry troops
ferried from Paris in streams of taxi cabs, 600 in
all.

The following night, on 8 September, the
aggressive French commander General
Franchet d'Esperey's Fifth Army launched a
surprise attack against the German Second Army, serving to further widen the
gap between the German First and Second Armies. D'Espery was a recent
appointment, Joffre having given him command of Fifth Army in place of the
dismissed
General Lanrezac, who was deemed too cautious and wanting in
'offensive spirit'.

On
9 September the German armies began a retreat ordered by the German Chief of
Staff Helmuth von Moltke.
Moltke feared an Allied breakthrough, plagued by poor communication from his
lines at the Marne.

The retreating armies were pursued by the French and British, although the
pace of the Allied advance was slow - a mere 12 miles in one day. The
German armies ceased their withdrawal after 40 miles at a point north of the
River Aisne, where the First and Second Armies dug in, preparing trenches
that were to last for several years.

In a strategic triumph at the First Battle of
the Marne, which ended on 10 September, the French forces - assisted by the
British - had succeeded in throwing back the German offensive, recapturing
lost ground in the process. More importantly, the battle ended any
hopes the Germans had of effectively bringing the war on the Western Front
to an early close.

Casualties at the battle were heavy. The
French incurred 250,000 losses, and it is believed that the Germans suffered
similar casualties (no official figures are available). The British
recorded 12,733 casualties among the BEF.

Click here to view Joffre's
report to the French Minister of War;
click here to read Sir John
French's report.
Click here to read German
First Army commander Alexander von Kluck's account of the decision to
retreat.